Colleges under fire for handling of sexual assault cases

Andrea Pino, left, and Annie Clark filed a Title IX complaint against the University of North Carolina. (Photo: Mark Dolejs, USA TODAY Sports)

Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino were not satisfied with changing only how their school handled sexual assaults. They wanted to start a national movement.

They had recovered from sexual assaults as students at the University of North Carolina where, instead of being supported, they say, they were blamed. The friends spent much of 2012 working on opposite coasts to draft a Title IX complaint against their school that they filed with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

“What Annie and I realized was for this to be effective, not just at Carolina, but historically something that would make other things happen, we had to make this bigger. We had to make it a movement,” Pino says. “And we had to come out. We couldn’t stay in the closet about our experiences.”

They filed their Title IX complaint in early 2013. They shared their stories, and dozens of women at other schools have followed their lead, many with the help of Clark and Pino. The student activism has captured the attention of the federal government, including President Obama, in a collaboration that aims to counteract what many consider an epidemic.